Patent GB-464684-A (GB)
Title: Improvements relating to prepayment meters
IPC: G07F15/02
Filed: 1935-10-18
Abstract: 464,684. Prepayment mechanism for meters. BRITISH INSULATED CABLES, Ltd., and WICKHAM, A. H. Oct. 18, 1935, No. 28848. [Class 27] Coin action, with stationary coin forming abutment, and with delivery proportionate to value of coin.-In a prepayment meter operable at will by any one of several coins insertable into a substantially stationary holder, rotation of the operating handle gauges the coin and displaces a slidable member to a position determined by the coin, the slidable member coupling the handle to the supply switch or like device, and selecting a transmission gear to the quantity mechanism appropriate to the coin. As shown, an inserted coin passes down a shoot 22 and enters a pivoted pocket 24 normally closed by a fixed bottom plate 36. Passing through a slot in the wall of the pocket 24 is a coin gauging element 33 carried by a spring-actuated slide 26 working on guides 32, a projection 34 on the slide bearing against the rear cam face 35 of a cam element 10 slidably but non-rotatably mounted on a squared portion of an operating shaft 9. A plate 11 carried by a sliding bar 12 is held against the front face of the cam element 10 by a strong spring 14. Upon rotation of the shaft 9 by a handle 7 after insertion of either of the two coins, a penny or a shilling, for which the mechanism is constructed, the cam 10, being held in its rearmost position by the spring 14, thrusts back the slide 26 until it is arrested by engagement of the gauging element 33 with the coin. With continued rotation of the shaft 9, the cam 10 is thrust forward against the spring 14 owing to its engagement with the now fixed projection 34, until finally a flat part of the cam engages the projection 34, the cam, and with it the bar 12, having then been displaced to a position dependent on the diameter of the coin. Loose on the rear end of the operating shaft 9 is a rotary switch setting barrel 39 having in its front face recesses accommodating a pair of clutch pins 50 on a carrier 48, also loose on the shaft 9, and connected with one arm of a bellcrank 44 turning on a fixed pivot, the other arm having a roller 43 held by spring action against the bar 12. When the bar 12 is displaced forward as described above, the roller 43 enters either of two slots 42 in the bar according as a penny or a shilling has been inserted, the resultant turning of the bell-crank 44 causing the carrier 48 to move forward, and the clutch pins 50 to bear against the rear face of a cam 65 (Fig. 8) fast on the shaft 9. With continued rotation of the shaft 9, recesses in the face of the cam 65 pick up the pins 50 so that further rotation is transmitted through the pins to the barrel 39, and thence to penny and shilling pinions 51, 52 having two and twenty-four teeth respectively. The bar 12 is also connected by an arm 63 with a shaft 54, which is thereby displaced axially to bring an idler 53 into mesh with the appropriate pinion 51 or 52, according to the coin inserted, so as to transmit a corresponding rotation to a gear 55 on the shaft 56 of the differential quantity mechanism. The quantity mechanism comprises a threaded sleeve 91, fast with a pinion 94 driven from the meter, and engaging a threaded portion of the shaft 56 ; a pin 93 of the sleeve 91 engages and closes contacts 95 to trip the main circuitbreaker when prepayment is exhausted. A gate element 15 on the bar 12, engaging in either of a pair of diametral notches in a disc 75 secured to the barrel 39, prevents operation with incorrect coins, one of a pair of notches in the gate 15 clearing the disc 75 in the case of a penny or a shilling. Coin-slit closing-devices; coin-discharging mechanism.-Immediately the operating shaft 9 is rotated, the cam 65 thereon (Fig. 8) depresses a lug 67 on the coin pocket to turn it slightly about its pivot 25 so that a wing 69 closes the shoot 23 to prevent a second coin being introduced. With continued rotation, the cam turns the coin pocket 24 further to clear the coin supporting plate 36, so that the coin is released. Still further displacement is later given to the pocket by a projection 72 on the cam, but if the coin has jammed in the pocket, a fixed abutment 73 engages the coin and prevents this displacement, so that completion of the rotation of the shaft 9 is prevented. In these circumstances, or if the mechanism has been locked owing to an incorrect coin having been inserted, a button 76 is depressed. This causes rearward movement of the clutch carrier 48 to disengage the operating shaft 9, the rotation of which can then be continued to discharge an incorrect coin, or the rotation repeated for a coin which has jammed. When the maximum permissible prepayment has been made, a pin 84 on a second differential mechanism 41 displaces a bolt 82 to close the coin pocket 24 and prevent discharge of the coin last inserted. Further coins cannot then be introduced until the commodity has been consumed. Specification 285,937, [Class 27], is referred to.